


cautious yellow progress

by Anonymous



Series: you don't put your book down even after it ends [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Aftermath of captivity, F/M, Female Senju Tobirama, POV Senju Tobirama, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-28
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:28:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22446412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: A few days after reaching Sora-Ku, Madara comes to talk to Tobirama.
Relationships: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara
Series: you don't put your book down even after it ends [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618027
Comments: 11
Kudos: 507
Collections: Anonymous, Writing Rainbow Yellow





	cautious yellow progress

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to [trees turning gold in the hills](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20305963)
> 
> Also here I am kind of assuming that Nekobaa is a title rather than Nekobaa's actual name. Or maybe Nekobaa is just immortal? Either is good.

Tobirama is given broth only at first, less a food-born snub and more a practical consideration of the aftermath of captivity. The woman who brings it is old and a little covered in cat hair and strangely kind. She brings Tobirama clothes — a simply and modest yukata for now, and a set of more respectable kimono for later — and tuts over Tobirama's hair. "Those monsters," she says. "Do you want it evened up?" 

They're strangers. This woman is perhaps not an Uchiha, but she's definitely someone Uchiha Madara trusts. Tobirama had barely even been able to tolerate the necessary help she'd received to get dressed, sit up, and eat. 

If this woman pulls out anything sharp, Tobirama might absolutely lose it. And that would be very poor thanks to someone who has so far been a good host. 

"This is just how I wear it," Tobirama says. When the woman looks skeptical, she clarifies, "Most people think I'm a man." 

"Are they blind," says the woman, in what's probably an unfair tone for her take, considering her first eyeful of Tobirama didn't involve any clothing on Tobirama's part. 

Tobirama's lips quirk with amusement just the same. She _doesn't_ suggest the woman ask Madara if his clan is blind, but it's a near thing. 

"Well, no matter, that won't last long," the woman says. 

That's as good as the woman outright admitting that Madara had mentioned their hastily-planned marriage, and Tobirama therefore does not reply. She focuses on the broth instead, on how its salty flavor settles on her tongue, on how it warms her throat when she swallows. It fills her belly slowly. It's not satisfying. It's _not drugged_ , as far as she can tell, which is the biggest surprise. 

As promised, Madara stops by that afternoon to finally talk. His chakra proceeds him, a roiling mess of complicate and uncertain emotions. It's almost enough to put Tobirama off finishing the rest of her almost-cold broth, but the fact that she doesn't know when someone will next see fit to feed her has her keep going until the bowl is gone. 

She expects to be told that Madara has reconsidered and she is now, regrettably, a hostage rather than a bride. She also expects that looking at her in broad daylight with her ugly, bruised face and calloused hands and cold eyes will make Madara glad to have changed his mind. The broth may be her last meal until Hashirama barters her back... _if_ Hashirama barters her back. Tobirama gives into the urge to scrape her spoon across the bottom of the bowl, chasing the last few drops of nutrition. 

"I could get you more soup," Madara says when he notices. 

Tobirama shoots him a _supremely_ wary look. 

It makes him shift uncomfortably. "Or other food," he tacts on uncertainly. "Whatever you want. Just let me or Neko-baa know." 

Under no circumstances will Tobirama do any such thing — partially because she's wary of the hidden price of seemingly free extra food, partially as a test to see if she'll really be fed regularly — but she nods in agreement to put Madara more at ease, because the sour taste of their uncertain social interaction has made his chakra scrape against her senses like sandpaper. It's enough to make Tobirama realize that Madara maybe isn't even leaking emotion-laden chakra _on purpose_ , which only makes the whole experience worse. If it were purposeful, she could tell Madara off. Since it's not, she had best ignore it. 

"How much will you ransom me for?" she asks. 

"Holding you for ransom would be a poor way to begin our engagement." 

"Call it a dowry." 

Madara's face twists, and so does his chakra. She's upset him, and now she watches him closely to see what he'll do. Tobirama isn't up to so much as crossing the room unassisted, so it was probably a mistake to call his bluff on the marriage at this point, but there was no other way forward. 

He can't actually be intending to marry her, even if he _does_ want peace. It isn't as bad of a match as it could be — she hasn't yet succeeded in killing Izuna — but it still isn't _good_. Tobirama isn't wife material in this life any more than she was husband material in the last. 

"I had these drawn up." Madara reaches slowly and politely for a scroll case tucked away on his person and hands it over to Tobirama. 

Out of an overabundance of caution, Tobirama inspects the case visually, then inspects it with her chakra sense, and _then_ sinks chakra into it to feel what's inside. Paper and ink, certainly, but nothing active. Inert paperwork, which is it's own sort of weapon but isn't actually a threat in such small quantities. 

The paperwork is a betrothal contract. Stipulating that she and Madara will be married and the clans allied when ground is broken on the village they'll build together. It has all the careful, precise markings of a legitimate Uchiha clan document. There's a space for Tobirama to sign, but of course she needs her clan head's permission to marry. She tells this to Madara blankly, studying the legalese with sharp eyes, looking for the trap. 

It _can't_ be this easy. It _can't_. She was expecting to labor for years longer to found the village — for decades, even, if she avoiding killing Izuna to get it done faster. 

"Do you think Hashirama will agree?" Madara asks. 

It's less the words and more the tone of voice that catch Tobirama's attention. She looks up at him. 

His face is lit up in a strange way. Bright-eyed and eager; it's not a look she's ever seen on his face before. Not even the last time the village was founded. 

"Does he still believe in it?" Madara adds. "Did he convince you?" 

Tobirama presses her lips together. The truth is that Hashirama never shuts up about it. The truth is that Hashirama would make peace even if Madara killed her in cold blood. The truth is that Tobirama didn't need convincing this time around. "He might sign," she says. "We'll have to negotiate more exact terms." She pauses. "Unless this is your only and final offer." 

Madara clearly somehow hears what she meant rather than what she actually said. He nods and then he's pulling up a chair to sit next to her bed, apparently now intending to stay too long to keep standing. "Of course it isn't," he says. "For one, I don't know anything about Senju wedding traditions. Tell me about them." 


End file.
